SuburbanDaddy

The new obsession for us this month is mini golf. Thing 1 and Thing 2 have already played more rounds of golf this year than me.

Thing 3 played for the first time today. He was more interested in the sticks and rocks than the game. And he really enjoyed taking the flag stick in and out. In and out. In and out.

There has been a major security breach at the SuburbanHouse.

I had devised a sophisticated, high tech barrier to prevent Thing 3 from going upstairs. At first because we didn’t want him to tumble down the stairs, but now because we don’t want him getting into everything in the bedrooms and bathrooms. He’s famous for hitting the buttons on clock radios and inadvertently setting middle of the night wakeup calls.

I have no idea where he would learn such a gesture.  It must have been from SuburbanMommy, or maybe from that crazy Aunt Crazy.

Ok, if you must know, he was pointing out the cut that he just received on his finger.

Thing 2 turns four years old tomorrow.  His birthday also happens to be on Fathers Day this year.  We had the party last week, so no real big plans tomorrow.

Except he keeps asking who is coming to his birthday tomorrow.  I’m not sure what he is expecting since we had a full blown dual party last weekend for him and Thing 3 whose birthday was two weeks ago.

Thing 2 seems to have a hard time distinguishing between his birthday party and his actual birthday.  He has been saying all week, since the party, that he is now four years old.  And he gets upset if you try to explain that his actual birthday hasn’t happened yet.

The other concern he keeps talking about is that his younger brother, Thing 3, was very “serious” on his birthday.  He can’t understand why he would cry and not want to eat birthday cupcakes.  We can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.

Hang around preschoolers enough, and you will hear some very entertaining commentary.  Take an example heard this weekend while SuburbanGrandpa was visiting.  We were all sitting at the table eating dinner.  The fact that 3 adults and 3 kids were all sitting and eating at the same time is a shockingly rare occasion in our house, but not the subject of this post, so I digress.

The conversation was pretty standard.  Topics included Thing 2’s upcoming 4th birthday party.  Who was the fastest runner.  Who was everyone’s favorite animal.  Then completely out of the blue:

Thing 2: Grandpa has no hair on his head.

A true statement, as SuburbanGrandpa is somewhat follically challenged.  We all know kids are brutally honest.  He continued with the honesty.

Thing 2: But he does have hair on his ears.  Like Gargamel.  (See previous post about his interest in the Smurfs).

Thing 3 turned two years old today!  The day began with him sleeping in until 7:15, which was the best birthday gift to SuburbanMommy and Daddy we could have asked for.

After that, it was a day filled with fun and celebrations tantrums and time-outs.  At two years old, his brothers were more excited about the prospects of a birthday.  We didn’t plan a party because we’re having a combined Thing 2 / Thing 3 birthday party next week.  Well, it’s really Thing 2’s party and Thing 3 gets to be there.  He doesn’t know the difference at his age.

I wish I could say, based on his behavior today, that today was the beginning of the terrible two’s.  Technically, they start today because he is now that age.  But, in fact, he has been in the terrible two’s since he was 9 months old.

After a day of seemingly non-stop tantrums (some mine), we had a makeshift party with a few cupcakes.  These pictures say it all.

This is when we presented the cupcake with a candle, and sang happy birthday.  He was not the least bit interested.  Actually, he was mad because we paused the Backyardigans on the TV.

This is the scene after blowing out the candle. You can’t see it here but he was having a tantrum in the next room.   Have you ever seen a kid run away from a chocolate frosted cupcake?  Not to worry about wasted food, SuburbanDaddy will be eating his cupcake later.

Now here are a couple of birthday professionals.  Thing 1 and Thing 2 had no problem picking up the slack.  Maybe Thing 3 will get the hang of it next year.

I am in total shock right now.   Thing 3 is reading quietly in his crib.  Thing 1 and Thing 2 are playing nicely together upstairs.  They are playing games and doing puzzles together.  They aren’t fighting.  They are using indoor voices.

I am in the office downstairs, enjoying some quiet time on the computer.  I think I can see a faint light at the end of the tunnel.  Where I actually get some time to myself before they go to bed, instead of being too tired to do anything except go to sleep myself.

I expect this calm to be short lived.  I can already hear the voices are past the indoor voice level.  And now there is an argument over the rules in the Spiderman Yahtzee game.  Oh well.  At least I can dream.

The iPhone is a great investment if you have kids.  Forget about all the cool features you’ll want for yourself.  Your kids will want it more.  And all the games available will come in handy when you need to keep your kids occupied and quiet for an extended period of time.

There are some really great games for kids.  Thing 1 likes to play Checkers.  Thing 2 likes Sound Box, where you press a button to hear a “whiney dog” or a “cuckoo clock” sound.  I won’t let Thing 3 touch my iPhone because, well, that will be the last time it works.  Best of all, most of these basic games are free or almost free.

Today I had Thing 1 and Thing 2 try Color Now.  Color Now is a unique application that takes coloring books to the digital era.  Kids and kids-at-heart will be able to add color to artistic images using a vibrant palate of paints.  Once they’re finished, they can save their finished masterpiece and use it as wallpaper on their iPhone, print it or send it to friends via email.  There are 12 images to choose from.   The image here is one example.

The concept is good enough. But I have to say it didn’t translate well to the small iPhone screen and would probably work better as a full desktop application.  Thing 2 had trouble selecting the colors and shapes on the screen.  At 4 years old, he can’t quite get the hang of the iPhone reverse pinch zoom.  Thing 1 was able to manuever better but he said it wasn’t a game “because there was no winner at the end.”  He’s very competitive.